Back on March 4, the Fiji Times was reporting that cyclone season could be extended by a month despite improving weather conditions. "We are not expecting a cyclone in the next five to six days but we never know, a cyclone is always possible," Meteorological Services director Rajendra Prasad said.
Well, it was possible. A powerful cyclone lashed the islands on Tuesday, forcing 10,000 people to evacuate from max 109-mph winds. More from Agence France-Presse:
"The main islands of Viti Levu and Vanua Levu were spared the worst of the devastation from Cyclone Tomas, which hit Monday, but there were reports of extensive damage from northern and eastern outlying islands, officials said.
The full extent of the fallout was still unclear as communications to many of the smaller islands and isolated areas on Vanua Levu remained cut Tuesday.
There were no new reports of casualties after a woman drowned in rough seas at the weekend as the cyclone approached.
More than 10,000 people had fled to evacuation centres by Tuesday -- mostly in the north of the country -- as the storm damaged buildings and crops and cut communications and power, while many low-lying areas were flooded."
Read more on the worst hurricanes, typhoons and cyclones here.
The red shirts are coming, and they want Abhisit Vejjajiva out under threat of crippling mass demonstrations in Bangkok. A noontime deadline set by the protesters for the Thai prime minister to step down has come and gone, and Abhisit shows no signs of giving in.
More:
"Amid the escalating protests Abhisit has ordered tens of thousands of soldiers and police on to the streets of Bangkok and moved his government under heavy security to the 11th Infantry Regiment headquarters outside of Bangkok.
In a televised statement earlier on Monday he rejected the red shirts' calls for parliament to be dissolved.
'The protesters have demanded that I dissolve the house before midday today, but the coalition parties agree the demand cannot be met,' Abhisit said.
'Elections must be held under common rules and genuine calm. We have to listen to other people's voices, not just the protesters.'
After the statement he left the base aboard a Thai military helicopter."
Most red shirts are supporters of Thaksin Shinawatra, the former Thai prime minister ousted in a 2006 coup. Al-Jazeera has a good Q&A on Thaksin and the red shirts.
(Photo by Athit Perawongmetha/Getty Images)
The first thought is it was sort of "War of the Worlds." But whereas aliens have never invaded the U.S., despite what summer blockbusters predict, the scare in Georgia hit a little bit closer to reality. After all, it was just a year and a half ago that Russia really did invade. From The Moscow Times:
"Thousands of Georgians -- including President Mikheil Saakashvili's grandmother -- panicked Saturday night when a pro-government television station aired a hoax that Saakashvili had been killed and Russians tanks had invaded their country at the request of opposition parties.
Cell phone networks crashed, and long lines of worried people formed at gas stations and bank machines.
But by Sunday afternoon, the fear had given way to anger, and opposition supporters rallied in central Tbilisi to accuse Saakashvili of pulling off the hoax in an attempt to discredit the opposition.
Saakashvili described the fake report as 'unpleasant' but 'close to the real thing.'
'It was really an unpleasant film, but more unpleasant is the fact that report was maximally close to what could happen or what the enemy of Georgia has in mind,' Saakashvili said at a meeting with locals in one of the country's provinces, RIA-Novosti reported.
He did not say whether he had known about the report in advance. But if he had, he hid the information from his closest relatives.
Saakashvili said the report had scared his grandmother. 'My grandmother, though she had seen me shortly before the report, got worried and nervous and, of course, a lot of people got nervous,' he said."
BBC has the video from pro-government Imedi TV, showing archive footage of the war and theorizing how opposition figures might seize power after an assassination of Saakashvili.
First of all, let me get out of the way that I'm an "Inglourious Basterds" fan. I wanted the WWII revenge fantasy to win in all eight of its nominated categories. Predictably, and deservedly, Austrian actor Christoph Waltz -- in his first introduction to American audiences, so to speak -- took home the Best Supporting Actor prize at the 82nd Academy Awards in L.A. tonight. But nothing else, so I'll set aside my hurt feelings and move on to ... "The Hurt Locker."
Yes, James Cameron, his $500 million ego, and his blue environmentally conscious CGI stars did not take home Best Picture. Or Best Director honors, for that matter. Whereas Cameron proclaimed himself "King of the World" upon winning for "Titanic" in 1997, Kathryn Bigelow -- his ex-wife and his main competition, natch -- was "Queen of the World" and took home the statuette. More pointedly, Bigelow becomes the first ever woman to win Best Director -- and I think it's that much cooler that the first ever woman won for making a war film.
Whereas Oscars of years past are usually making headlines for the mixing of Hollywood and politics, this year was calm as cucumber -- though viewers may have been more miffed at the interpretive dance of Best Score nominees than anything that has ever come out of Sean Penn's mouth on that stage. But yes, 10 Best Picture nominees was too many. (I mean, did anyone believe "District 9" would win?) And George Clooney's stoic looks of disgust at the jokes of co-hosts Steve Martin and Alec Baldwin were pretty funny.
I leave you with the Los Angeles Times' comprehensive Oscars coverage -- and this uber-sweet photo of Best Actor winner Jeff Bridges and his wife of 33 years, Susan Geston.
(Photo by Kevork Djansezian/Getty Images)
